General

Haematoxylin and eosin platform change.

We are changing our platform for the haematoxylin and eosin stain used for all routine histopathology cases to the Roche HE600 platform from Monday 4th September 2017. This is to allow us to improve the workflow and traceability of reagents used.

The existing platform will remain in use as contingency and for macro slide staining.

During slide review at MDT meetings you may notice a difference in the tone of the staining.This new platform will be assessed by UKAS against ISO 15189 standards at our next annual inspection in October.

For further information about this change please contact the department on 0121 424 3188 and ask to speak to a senior member of staff.

Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (PNH) is an acquired haematopoietic stem cell disorder resulting in a partial or total deficiency of proteins normally linked to cell membranes by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor. Classical features are;

In order to bring systems in line with the restructured laboratory services the Laboratory Medicine directorate will be migrating to new Laboratory Information System Databases for Blood Sciences and Microbiology.

The migration is due to commence at 8am Monday 2nd June.

No downtime is anticipated but there may be some temporary disruption as the migration progresses.

The Blood Sciences System will replace what is currently the separate disciplines of Chemistry, Haematology and Immunology as a single department. As such the ICE Reporting System will display reports as Blood Sciences (Orange highlighting).

The PHE microbiology laboratory at Heartlands is no longer able to process dual liquid swabs for MRSA screening if two swabs are left in the sample tube.

To perform a dual emergency MRSA screen, swab the patient's nostrils with the pink swab; put the swab into the tube and rotate the swab against the side of tube to release the sample into the liquid. Do not break off the pink swab into the tube - remove and discard the pink swab after the sample has been added to the liquid. The white swab used for the patient's groin should still be broken off and left in the tube.

Full instructions for using Dual Liquid Swabs for MRSA Screening can be found under "infection control" then "MRSA" on the HEFT intranet: HERE

As you will be aware, laboratory reports are sent to your Practice both by electronic transfer and in hard copy form. The Directorate has received several requests to cease printing and sending hard copy reports as they have limited value with the current electronic systems in place. Unfortunately, until recently, it has not been possible to prevent the printing of hard copy reports to individual locations. We are pleased to inform you that technical advancements now make this possible.

The PHE Public Health Laboratory Birmingham are changing the type of sample tubes required for urines sent for microscopy, culture and sensitivity testing (M,C&S). The new tubes will fit directly onto the laboratory’s new automated analysers which will speed up the processing of urines. This is part of the quality improvement and technical modernisation strategy of the laboratory. The smaller volume required to fill the new style boric acid containers should also reduce the number of samples we cannot process due to them being under-filled. For urines for tests other than M,C&S (e.g. Pregnancy test, legionella antigen, virology, TB culture, chlamydia and gonorrhoea) please continue to use the sample containers currently required for those tests. For CSF's and any sterile sites e.g. Ascitic Fluid, Knee Aspirates, Pleural Fluids, PD Fluids, Pus samples and any other fluid samples please send them in a 20ml universal. Urines for MC&S in a 20ml universal will be rejected, so please send in correct container. Please check your requisition form to make sure you can order both types of specimwn containers.

Protection of Personal Information – Laboratory Medicine comply with the Trust Data Protection Policy and have procedures in place to allow the Directorate and it’s employees to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and associated best practice and guidance.

The Trust Laboratories at Heartlands Hospital, Good Hope Hospital and Solihull Hospital were awarded UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accreditation to the internationally recognised ISO 15189 standard in May 2015. For a list of accredited tests and other information please visit the test database http://www.heftpathology.com/frontpage/test-database.html.Tests not appearing on this scope are either under consideration or in the process of accreditation and so currently remain outside of our scope of accreditation. However, these tests have been validated to the same high standard as accredited tests and are performed by the same trained and competent staff.